Barbara Auer

Sex, capitalism, German reunification, loneliness—this extraordinary thriller is haunted by all manner of thematic spectres. A dazzling reimagining of the subversive genre classic Carnival of Souls, Yella is one of Christian Petzold’s very best, with a monumental Nina Hoss front and center.

Christian Petzold displayed a rare gift for genre subversion from the very start. At once a coming-of-age tale and terrorists-on-the-run thriller, his debut feature uses the former to comment on the latter—its mutable young protagonist serving as a proxy for a nation surveying its traumatic past.